SLMC high command sacks three parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2004, 17:29 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) High Command Sunday evening expelled four of its leading members including three dissident parliamentarians Messrs Risard Badiudin, Najeeb Abdul Majeed and Hussain Baila from the ordinary membership of the party with immediate effect for working against party policies and its leadership, SLMC in a press release said.

One of the sacked SLMC parlimentarian, Abdul Majeed

SLMC leader Mr.Rauff Hakim did not attend Sunday’s high command meeting, which unanimously decided to sack the four dissidents including three MPs, press release said.

The fourth member expelled is Mr.M.Inamullah who is a member of the party high command, press release added. Mr. Hussain Baila is one of the national list parliamentarians of the SLMC. Mr. Risard Badiudin was elected in the April 2nd poll from the Vanni electoral district and Mr. Najeeb Abdul Majeed from the electoral district, sources said.

The SLMC party high command Sunday afternoon met at Colombo Taj Samudra Hotel and considered the letter sent by dissident parliamentarians seeking two weeks’ time to send in their explanation why they should not be expelled with documentary proof, sources said.

The SLMC high command requested the dissident parliamentarians and another high-ranking member to attend Sunday high command meeting. The four failed to attend the meeting.

SLMC sources said that the party high command would take further action to unseat Mr. Risard Badiudin, Mr. Najeeb Abdul Majeed and Mr. Hussain Baila from Sri Lanka parliament.

Mr. Najeeb Abdul Majeed was not a member of the SLMC before the April 2nd poll. He was a senior member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and held Deputy Minister post in the then Peoples Alliance government.

He joined the SLMC due to a decision taken by the Kinniya Muslim Theologian Council that all Muslim politicians in the Trincomalee district should contest in the SLMC ticket irrespective of the party affiliations in order to capture more parliamentary seats in the four member Trincomalee electoral district. Hence the former UNP parliamentarian Mr.M.A.M.Maharoof and SLFP parliamentarian Mr. Najeeb Abdul Majeed contested in the SLMC ticket, sources said.

Mr. Najeeb Abdul Majeed is the son of the late Mr.M.N.Abdul Majeed who represented the Muttur electorate since 1960 July till 1977 in parliament in the SLFP ticket, sources said.